Dana White needs to stop any future talk about Georges St-Pierre vs. Anderson Silva because it is clear GSP isn’t interested. Now if he wants to set his sights on GSP vs. Benson Henderson, he may have better luck according to the UFC welterweight champ.
The UFC president was at it again last week when he told the media that he was going to make another attempt to sign the Silva vs. GSP super fight. White said that he expected an answer from GSP last week but never followed up with the media on it. GSP on the other hand was glad to talk to the media on it and it isn’t happening, at least not now.
GSP is doing media for his new autobiography “The Way of the Fight” and sat down with UFC color commentator Joe Rogan on Rogan’s podcast to talk about the book. Of course the subject immediately shifted to Anderson Silva and GSP gave what I think is one of the most honest answers you’ll ever hear from a fighter that isn’t interested in a fight he doesn’t think he will win.
“Anderson Silva is very big,” St-Pierre said. “He’s 230 pounds. He’s a very big guy walking around, and I’m 190 pounds. It’s a lot of weight difference. If this fight happens one day, we’re going to have to decide what weight class and everything.”
Not all is lost. GSP told Rogan that if Silva can come down to welterweight, he’d take the fight.
“If he can make 170, he can weigh 170, I can weigh 170, and everything is fine.”
From the start of this Silva vs. St-Pierre talk, GSP has been rather consistent in his worry about the size difference between the two fighters. GSP has said numerous times that he would have to come up in weight and he isn’t comfortable with that. As a fan as much as I admire GSP I have said from the start that I felt Silva was too big for him. There is a big size difference there and as fun as the fight is on paper, MMA has weight classes for a reason.
These comments are also interesting in regards to what GSP’s current trainer and ex-manager have said in recent interviews. Both have said that GSP had a three-fight plan and that the plan was Diaz, Silva, Hendricks, and then retirement. GSP seemed to indicate that he would take the fight with Johny Hendricks next and stay at 170. Hendricks can now relax because it appears that he is getting his title shot.
Now that said, not all talk about super fights is dead. GSP told Rogan that a move to 155 pounds is something that he’d actually entertain. He told Rogan that the 155 pound fighters walk around at 190 which is what he weighs. UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson has talked about wanting to fight GSP. Maybe Dana White and the UFC need to start working on the super fight that they can actually sign instead of chasing the ones they can’t.
GSP never said the Silva fight is dead, but unless the Spider is dropping to 170 (which he has said he’d do), it isn’t happening anytime soon.
